By RON GONZALES
We can learn from any situation, even tragic ones.
The murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-spouse of O.J. Simpson, focused attention on the issue of domestic violence throughout the nation.
That heightened awareness was part of the reason Santa Clara County's unincorporated areas reported a 30 percent increase in domestic violence cases in 1995.
As chairman of Santa Clara County's crime task force, I led the effort to address the issue of domestic violence in our community.
On July 1, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors established a Domestic Violence Protective Order Registry to track restraining orders countywide.
Prior to the work of the crime task force, domestic violence victims had to file separate copies of their protective orders with each law-enforcement agency. This administrative system was itself abusive to the victims of violence.
For example, say a victim resides in an unincorporated area of the county, her children attend school in San Jose and she works in Sunnyvale. Under the old system, the victim would have to file copies of her protective orders with the sheriff's office whose jurisdiction is the unincorporated area, and the San Jose and Sunnyvale police departments.
Under the new system, this victim would have to file only one copy of the protective orders with the sheriff's department. Clerks then enter the information into the state computer system that is accessible to all California police departments.
Now that police departments can locate the information quickly, victims have legal protection from their abuser no matter where they are in the state.
This new process places the administrative responsibility for protective orders where it belongs--on the law-enforcement agencies, not on the victims.
To ensure prompt action on these domestic violence calls, the sheriff's department has formed a pool of nine deputies to serve the protective orders throughout the county. In addition, the county will provide health and counseling services to victims of domestic violence who live in the unincorporated areas of the county.
The pictures of Nicole Brown Simpson's bruised face tell us that domestic violence is a reality in our society. Santa Clara County has responded to this issue quickly and decisively. The Protective Order Registry will not eliminate domestic violence from Santa Clara County, but it will give women a better chance to protect themselves and their children from a violent abuser.
That's an important first step.
Ron Gonzales is the Santa Clara County Supervisor for District 3.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, August 7, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.